Downtowns get a boost

Vacant storefronts are a drag on the local economy, but a new PSEG Long Island program may serve as the kind of antidote that brings about change.

PSEG-LI’s “Vacant Space Revival Program” offers electric bill discounts to businesses moving into commercial spaces that have been vacant for more than a year.

“This is a vacant space revival grant for all of Long Island,” said Timothy Harris, a local economic development specialist at PSEG-LI.

The program assists with the delivery charges on the electric bill in the first year of business. Delivery is free for the first three months, and offers a 75 percent discount for the next three months, and then 50 percent for the following three months and 25 percent for the final three months. And while it gives an assist to businesses and their communities, it also benefits PSEG-LI, by switching dormant accounts into active ones.

It’s that first year of operation, experts said, that businesses face the most risk. It’s a time when owners are hit with unexpected expenses and delays that can impact their bottom line. And without a financial cushion, it can mean the difference in staying in business.

And while advocates across Long Island say that companies face a slew of challenges, the PSEG-LI program is smart business. They see the program as a way to give incentives to businesses to occupy vacant stores that would otherwise sit dark.

“If I had a business vacant next to me, it only helps me, as it will bring more people to the area,” Mariann Dalimonte said of the program. Dalimonte, who is executive director of Greater Port Washington Business Improvement District, added, “it helps the community, it helps people get jobs and it helps the economy.”

Linda Herman, PSEG-LI’s lead economic development representative, said the program enables the utility to help several businesses at once.

“We can’t help every store, but if we help this vacant store, it helps the guys on the other sides get traffic too,” she said.

And that’s key. Empty storefronts “have become a form of ‘zombie-vacant businesses,’” said Bob Fonti, co-chair of the Suffolk County Alliance of Chambers and Suffolk chairman of Long Island Business Council. These spaces remain “dark and vacant and the effects to the surrounding businesses, as well as the loss of county and state sales tax revenue, will hurt all of us directly and indirectly.”

Partnered with other incentives, the new PSEG-LI program can influence whether a would-be entrepreneur opens a business.

“It goes in line with [Hicksville’s] revitalization program,” said Lionel Chitty, executive director of Hicksville Chamber of Commerce. Hicksville, in 2017, received a $10 million state grant toward redeveloping its downtown district. Chitty said the PSEG-LI program would benefit communities “as long as businesses know about it.”

And PSEG-LI is reaching out to stakeholders about the new initiative. This is the kind of program that chambers of commerce and BIDS like to spread the word about. For example, in Port Washington, Dalimonte keeps an eye on vacancies, and when she sees construction and new signs of life, she stops by to welcome the soon-to-be neighbors. Along with the PSEG-LI program, she provides material on the community as well as grant programs they might qualify for, including façade rehabilitation and a new tenant bonus program. As for the new PSEG-LI program, businesses are already expressing interest, including, officials said, AR Workshop, a do-it-yourself home décor studio in Port Washington, which is opening on lower Main Street.

And when people apply for the PSEG-LI program, they are introduced to additional energy efficiencies, including rebates and ways to save on air-conditioning and lighting, Harris said.

PSEG-LI representatives met with chambers of commerce and other stakeholders before launching the program to ensure that it could assist the broadest number of businesses. They took feedback, tweaking elements, including allowing time for construction and renovation so that more companies could apply. Now, the program is structured so that businesses must apply within six months of switching the electric to their name, and in the instances where certificates of occupancy are not needed, companies are encouraged to apply prior to their grand opening. In addition, landlords can apply on behalf of future tenants.

“I’m excited to see it move forward,” said Eric Alexander, the director of Vision Long Island, whose mission includes promoting economically sustainable growth in the region. “So many economic development programs are not wired to support truly small businesses. This one is – that’s what s unique about this.”

PSEG-LI will be giving a presentation about the program on March 13 at the Long Island Business Council meeting in East Farmingdale. It is also working with government officials across Long Island and the Rockaways to promote the program.

“They’ve done some good legwork to talk to folks – chambers, property owners – and have a sense of what their needs are,” Alexander said. “It can be a helpful incentive.”

And while the program won’t necessarily help stores compete with Internet shops, it does help food-oriented and experiential type of retail – “that’s where the market is,” Alexander pointed out.

And as retailers do face those monumental challenges when competing with Internet sales, there is still a chance to pull in foot traffic downtown, experts said.

“In areas with varied demographics, people like to shop,” Chitty said.

And experts note, the program would help businesses recoup costs when encountering any bureaucratic delays and other red tape. “It eases the pain,” Alexander said. “It’s another tool.”